ATLANTA - Georgia's first Internet-based public school now has 4,400 students enrolled across the state.

Students of the Georgia Virtual Academy take all their classes online and do most of their work with the help of their parents. They talk with teachers over the phone and on e-mail, and take state-mandated exams at the end of the year like other public school students.

In our fourth-grade gifted resource class, we are studying ancient Egypt. In one of our lessons, we did research, read and discussed Egyptian style art. Then our job was to create an Egyptian mural to show how Egyptians had strict guidelines in their art.

December 27, 2008|
By Christina Meiers and Miya McCrear
Special to the Courier
|Education

The Long County Board of Education recently approved erecting a 975-foot fence around the playground at Walker Middle School. According to Robert Waters, superintendent of the Long County School System, the fence will be 5-to 6-feet high and cost between $8,000-9,000. He said one of the main reasons the fence is needed is to keep stray dogs away from students.

American high school students are graduating at record levels, new numbers from the Department of Education reveal, and progress has been made closing the achievement gap among black and Latino youths. Last year, 81 percent of American high school students graduated, a record high.

A recent study from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies found American young adults lagging behind their international peers in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills, according to U.S. News & World Report.